Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy How to make reading interesting again

What about a reading "contest?" At my kids' school, to encourage reading, the school has like a contest. They gave little prizes for reading- the child could read the book or even you read to your child. It got both of my boys reading very well.

You are not the only one! I really like Arnold Lobel and "Little Bear", but the rest of those leveled books were just a means to an end. Cynthia Rylant is better than most. I really love Kate Dicamillo. Her "Mercy Watson" series has just the right amount of text on a page, and she uses great vocabulary. Words like--Porcine, Opinion, Crisis, Folly, Admire, Contentedly. DD seems to really pick up vocabulary faster when she reads the words herself.

I am not looking forward to the drivel that are those serial chapter books, but I understand their place as endurance builders. And, kids seem to love them.

Another idea along the lines of contests. Many libraries have summer book clubs. I know Barnes and Nobel has one as well. You only have to read 8 books for that one, which we'd accomplish in a day. So, instead I am going to pick some longer books for her to read me.

We also go to the book store about three times a week and read books. We sip a drink together and read. She begs to this.

We have done very well with comic books-- old Disney ones have clean content. And with the magazines from Cricket. (Ask magazine is mostly in comic format but treats interesting topics. Muse is aimed at older kids but DS5 loves it. Muse has relatively short articles, but at a nicely sophisticated reading level, so endurance is not a big problem.)

And pictorial science books. And a beat-up atlas. And art history books.

There is a large trove of this stuff around and accessible throughout our house. The kids like to stash things behind the couch they're working on...

DeeDee

Let's see...for a kid who is three...you should probably completely forbid her from ever reading again. She'll be going through Tolstoy by the end of summer. ;-)

Seriously, though, I would just back off and not worry about it. Like others have said, make books available -- maybe take her to the library or to a bookstore and let her choose some books that she might like (but be prepared for her to refuse). Casually ask her at different times if she wants to read...but, again, be prepared for her to refuse. She's just acting her age. :-)

Don't worry. Her skills won't "leave" her. Early reading isn't a straight upward line -- it's a pattern of gain...then plateau...then gain...then another plateau. She'll regain interest at some point and take off again.

Speaking of it, here we go... The boys bedtime is 8:30.  It's 9:30 he's sitting here reading his second book tonight.  The practice had drastically improved his skill.  Honestly I don't totally listen with undivided attention.  Sometimes I do watch closely.  Sometimes he skips a sentence.  Sometimes he reads every word.  I'll correct a word if I hear one wrong.  What I think is funny is when he read "The Magic Set" I said, "You need to read that page over, I didn't understand those last two sentences you read".  He said no.  I looked at the book.  The part I thought he was misreading was a character casting a magic spell and what he read was what was on the page.  I thought he was getting too tired to read.  We won't be able to do this once school starts, but honestly he can stay up late reading and it's fine with me.  

I've read a few chapters of "Writing With Skill" so we're laying a foundation for book reports later by asking him two questions.  What was the book about?  What was the most interesting thing that happened?  That's teaching a 2-3 sentence summary for outlining skills.  Fun !!!

You know....I felt this way, too. But the scene has really improved. There is drivel, sure, but after all, many wonderful books ARE series books (think Narnia, Harry Potter, Anne of Green Gables) and they're so important because they allow kids to build that relationship with characters. And they do make library checkout come faster! It's always a letdown when DD finishes up a beloved series (well...okay...I admit I was glad when all 80+ of those infernal Rainbow fairy books had been put to bed).

10:38 he finally gave up.  But he just spent an hour and a half struggling through a tough book, he read 18 pages of  "Bread and Jam for Frances" gr. 2.1.  I just don't see him doing something like that during the day when he can watch cartoons, play outside, play with his toys, play with his sister, ride his bike.  

He read "tangerine " as "0 range"
"rye bread as every bread.  I didn't correct every mistake.  I told him to use a bookmark under his sentences and sometimes I even helped hold the bookmark for him.  Some parts he struggled, sounding out every word.  Some parts he read smoothly and naturally. Don't know if that helps, Johanna, but we're one year ahead of you.

Oh man! My six year old was started reading those fairy books when she was done with all the junie b jones books. There are way too many if them and she likes to re-read again and again her favorites! I have taken them, hidden them and I have tried forbidding them. They hey found, or borrowed and they WONT go away! She is just finishing first grade. She receieved an end of year DRA of 38. She was assessed by the reading specialist at her public school. At that level, she had to produce a writing response to her reading to demonstrate understanding.

Anyway, I have no idea how she went from a DRA at the end of kinder to a DRA 38 ending first when all she does is read those stupid fairy books!

When she was three and four, I knew she could read but would only read one page to me and quit. She also would not fill in words that I knew she knew. The less I worried about her reading, the more she picked up a book. I let her read anything she wants. I even let her try Hunget Games. She read twelve chapters before she decided the book wasn't for her.

Op. You dd sounds like mine did at that age. Some of her refusal to read to me was just pure obtinance, but upon entering kinder, we found she wasn't tracking and needed glasses for convergance. She also needed six months of vision therapy.

Good luck!

Sydness--don't worry. My DD now thinks the Rainbow Fairy books are dumb (she's eight) and wants to give her remaining copies away. There is hope! I just went ahead and let her read them all...whatever. I did ask her, "Did you notice that the plot is the same every time?" once or twice, though.

My other advice is to heavily strew the path with better fairy books and get out of the way (we did this and she did read them).

The "stupid fairy books" are effective because they offer a predictable plot and structure. They allow kids to build their endurance, learn plot prediction, and slowly build their reading vocabulary. While insipid and nauseating to the adults, they serve a very solid purpose for kids learning to read. I made my peace with them.

OP, I see absolutely no value in pushing a child to read before they're in school. All skills and interest wax and wane naturally as kids grow and develop. Follow the kid's lead.